South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks talk about adjusting to the loss of Chloe Kitts

South Carolina announced on Monday that senior forward Chloe Kitts will miss the season with a torn ACL. At SEC Tipoff ’26 on Tuesday, Dawn Staley and Gamecock players reacted publicly to the news for the first time.

“Chloe is irreplaceable for what she brings both tangibly and intangibly,” Dawn Staley said.

Last season, Kitts averaged 10.2 points, a team-high 7.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists. By the end of the season, she was one of South Carolina’s best players, leading the Gamecocks to another SEC Tournament championship and Final Four appearance. 

Kitts recorded a 16-point, 13-rebound, 10-assist triple-double at Ole Miss, and was named the SEC Tournament and NCAA Birmingham Regional MVP. She was also voted an honorable mention All-American by the AP and USBWA.

Kitts had surgery on her knee on Tuesday, beginning her path back to the court.

“Chloe’s tough. I don’t worry about Chloe and her ability to fight back and get back on the court,” Staley said. “Now that we know she’s not going to be with us on the court, we’ve got to turn it over to the players who are healthy, that are going to compete every day. The cupboards aren’t bare here in South Carolina. So we’ve got 10 that are going to do the best that they can. We’re not asking any one person to say, hey, fill in for Chloe. It’s going to be a collective effort, and we’ve got enough in the room for us to compete at the highest level.”

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6-3 Joyce Edwards was South Carolina’s leading scorer last season, averaging 12.7 points and 5.0 rebounds. She came off the bench in all but one game, but now she will step into Kitts’ starting forward spot.

“Joyce is Joyce,” Staley said. “Joyce is going to probably take the brunt of it because she’s just got more playing experience under us. The same conversations I’m having with Joyce, with or without Chloe, I’m having. It’s not like we’re going to ask somebody to be Chloe because that’s impossible.”

This preseason, Edwards was named to the All-SEC first team. Last season, she made the All Final Four team and earned first-team All-SEC and honorable mention All-America honors. Edwards struggled in the NCAA Tournament when she became the focus of opposing defenses, but regrouped with a double-double against Texas in the national semifinal.

Edwards spent the summer playing on the USA’s AmeriCup team and playing in a pair of 3X3 tournaments. She said 3X3 forced her to become a better player.

“You really just focus on the speed of the game,” she said. “You have a 12-second shot clock. You don’t have time to think. All your instincts just kick in. It really shows you who is a dog and who’s not. You can’t hide. Five on five, you’re playing with so many talented players.”

Madina Okot played for Mississippi State last season, where 6-6 Kenyan averaged 11.2 points and 9.6 rebounds. Okot was one of the most coveted players in the portal, and her teammates have raved about how well she has fit in.

“The person that I think can take our team to the next level (…) is Madina Okot,” Staley said. “She is, by far, probably the strongest player that we’ve had in our program. Strong, just low body fat. She came in Cock Strong, right? But her ability to be mobile, she’s got great hands, she’s really efficient in the paint. She can actually shoot it, too. We’ve got to keep egging her on to take those mid-range shots, and she’s actually closed practice down by knocking down threes.”

With Kitts out, South Carolina is down to 10 healthy players. In January, the Gamecocks lost Ashlyn Watkins to a torn ACL in her left knee, and Watkins chose to sit out the upcoming season to focus on rehab. 

“We’re unafraid to go into the season without Chloe,” Staley said. “You’re not going to see us skipping a beat. Our players know anytime we sustain any kind of injury, we believe in the system that we put together, we believe in the players that we assembled. If you look throughout our time at South Carolina, we haven’t had very many injuries throughout my career. The times we’ve sustained some injuries, we won the national championship (with) an injury to Alaina Coates, right? We’ll figure out a way and make adjustments. I’m glad, somewhat glad, this time where you don’t have to make adjustments mid-season. You go with who’s healthy to go.”

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