COLUMBIA — Chloe Kitts feels the most at peace on an empty gym floor.
When the South Carolina women’s basketball freshman can’t sleep or just needs to get out of her head, she takes the minute-long walk from her dorm to the Gamecocks’ practice facility. She works out on her own, sometimes until 2 or 3 a.m., finding a meditative state the in echoing bounce of the ball and electric hum of the fluorescent lights.
“I prefer working out late … I just have a lot of thoughts, and working out makes it better,” Kitts said. “It’s my alone time for sure … I’ll have the whole gym for a couple hours and I’ll shoot, then lay on the floor, then shoot. I love it alone.”
But the solitude doesn’t always offer solace. Kitts signed with the Gamecocks’ 2023 class but decided to enroll early in late December. Jumpstarting her career puts Kitts in an unusual position: She’s behind compared to the the 2022 freshman class but is now months ahead of the other signees in her year.
The freshman joined the Gamecocks’ roster fewer than six weeks after announcing her commitment Nov. 4. She was a five-star prospect ranked No. 17 in the 2023 class, and her father Jason barely introduced the discussion of early enrollment until after Kitts picked South Carolina.
Jason runs a non-profit organization focused on youth basketball development in Central Florida, so his experience led him to advocate for Kitts arriving ahead of schedule.
“I absolutely wanted Chloe Kitts at South Carolina this year so she could understand what the roles and the leadership looks like at that level,” Jason said. “Is it hard? Absolutely. But that’s part of the process of understanding that hard is going to lead to bigger and better things.”
The move was unprecedented, especially because of the Gamecocks’ already-deep roster. In the first nine games, coach Dawn Staley played all 13 players in four games, and her rotation was fewer than 12 just once. Kitts made an impressive debut with 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals in her first appearance against Charleston Southern on Dec. 18, but the freshman’s confidence started to waver early in SEC play.
