Chloe Kitts came into the SEC Tournament with an extra edge. It earned her an MVP
Chloe Kitts has arguably played the basketball of her life in the last two weeks and her talents were once again on display in the SEC Tournament championship game.
Kitts finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in No. 5 South Carolina’s 64-45 win over top-ranked Texas on Sunday. The win gives South Carolina its ninth SEC tournament title in 11 years (all under coach Dawn Staley) and third in a row.
USC finishes 30-3 and will learn its NCAA path on Selection Sunday next weekend.
Kitts’ effort in the SEC Tournament was second to none as she was named to the All-Tournament team and the tournament’s MVP.
“I just go out there and play as hard as I can,” Kitts said. “I do what my coaches ask me to do...I just go out there and I play for my team and I play to win.”
South Carolina has now had seven players named the SEC Tournament MVP:
- Kitts (2025)
- MiLaysia Fulwiley (2024)
- Aliyah Boston (2023, 2021)
- Mikiah Herbert Harrigan (2020)
- A’ja Wilson (2017, 2018)
- Tiffany Mitchell (2016)
- Aleighsa Welch (2015)
“It’s amazing,” Kitts, a 6-foot-2 junior forward from Florida, said of joining the list of Gamecocks to earn the honor. “Those are all dogs.”
Kitts scored 50 points in three SEC Tournament games over the last three days. She was 23 of 31 from the floor, and also recorded 23 rebounds.
“I feel like Chloe Kitts came in here with an edge,” USC guard Raven Johnson told The State. “They left her off the All-SEC teams. I feel like she should have been on one of those teams. She proved to the SEC that she’s one of the top forwards in this league.”
“So I think she came in with a chip on the shoulder. She wanted to win. That’s one thing about Chloe, she wants to win. She’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
Kitts started the tournament off on the right foot with a career-high 25 points against Vanderbilt on Friday in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. Her 10 rebounds made it her ninth double-double of the season. Kitts had 10 points and four rebounds in the SEC Tournament semifinals against Oklahoma.
“She worked so hard these last couple days and I give it to her,” Gamecocks forward Sania Feagin said of Kitts. “MVP (is) well deserved.”
The junior caught fire in the final week of the regular season. Kitts finished with a triple-double against Ole Miss on February 27 and followed that up with a double-double a few days later against Kentucky in the regular season finale.
“I just feel like since the triple double game, I feel like that game really gave me confidence,” Kitts said. “Makes me feel like I can do anything. And it’s also nice that my coaches, my teammates, especially Khadijah (Sessions), fuels confidence into me. Makes me feel like I can do whatever.”
Kitts was all smiles when SEC commissioner Greg Sankey presented her with the Tournament MVP trophy after the game. Unfortunately for her, the trophy was broken. Kitts laughed it off and said the SEC will be sending her a new one.
While she waits on that backup hardware, teammates say Kitts showed this weekend what they’ve known all along:
That she, like USC’s other SEC Tournament MVPs, is a “dog.”
“Inside, outside, whatever you give her: You tell her to go, she’s going to go and get that bucket,” Feagin said.
2025 SEC All-Tournament Team
Aneesah Morrow, LSU
Madison Booker, Texas
Sania Feagin, South Carolina
Chloe Kitts, South Carolina
MiLaysia Fulwiley, South Carolina
SEC Tournament MVP
Chloe Kitts, South Carolina
Final stat line: 50 points, 23 rebounds, 74.1% field goal percentage, four steals and two blocks in three games vs. Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Texas
This story was originally published March 9, 2025 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Chloe Kitts came into the SEC Tournament with an extra edge. It earned her an MVP."
