No. 1 South Carolina will travel to Tampa, Florida, to play in the Final Four of this year’s March Madness following a 54-50 victory against No. 2 Duke on Sunday.

Chloe Kitts has revealed Dawn Staley wanted her to have the ball at the end of Sunday’s game against Duke – allowing the player to deliver when it really mattered.

No. 1 South Carolina has reached the Final Four of March Madness after beating No. 2 Duke 54-50 in Birmingham, Alabama. The Blue Devils were in a great position to win the Elite Eight clash, as they boasted a four-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Yet the Gamecocks, who are the reigning national champions, rallied late on to secure their biggest win of the season so far. Kitts was South Carolina’s key player, scoring a team-best 14 points – including two free throws in the dying stages of the contest.

Staley’s trust in Kitts speaks volumes, as the player had missed three free throws earlier in the contest. Yet South Carolina’s head coach backed Kitts, who produced a double-double during last year’s victorious championship game vs. Iowa, to hit the target.

“Well, Coach drew up a play and she said the ball was going to get to me,” said Kitts when asked what was going through her head when she was shooting her late free throws. “So I walked out there and I was like, ‘Pao (Te-Hina Paopao), can you get the ball? Can you get the ball?’ And Pao was like, ‘Girl what? Go get the ball.’

“So I got the ball and I went to the line and I was just taking a deep breath, and I told myself that my coach wanted me to have the ball at the end of the game because she knew I could make my free throws, and I told myself that I’m really good at basketball and I made both of them.”

Fellow Gamecocks star Bree Hall added: “I was at the free-throw line, I was screaming, ‘You’re unshakeable! You’re unshakeable!’ You got this!'” Sania Feagin, another one of her teammates, also offered her support by telling Kitts to “take a deep breath.”

Kitts was then asked how it feels to have Staley’s backing in such a big moment. She continued: “It feels amazing because I feel like I worked so hard and my process is different and everyone’s process is different and I’m just so thankful to be in that.”

Dawn Staley makes her feelings clear on Chloe Kitts

Staley was asked about Kitts’ nerves at the free throw line during her postgame press conference. She replied: “As far as Chloe, I am super proud of Chloe. Chloe came to us, she skipped her high school year and came to us halfway through the school year, probably thought it was the worst decision that she made when she was going through it, but then the following year she was a lot better.

“But her maturation process from everything, like, she’s grown in every aspect of her life. Mentally, physically, emotionally, like, you know, we have grown-up conversations and I can’t believe it sometimes because of how she came in. Now she’s really thought-provoking, like she is really asking all the right things.

“What I really like about Chloe is, you know, whether she makes you laugh at something that she says or, you know, or she says something off the wall, it’s her. She is comfortable in her skin. Like, that’s what I want for my players, to get to know who they are, don’t care about what anybody else thinks of them and just continue to move on.

“But she is growing, right? Then our game is so good. Like I feel like everywhere I go, I feel the love. Like everywhere. It’s incredible how much people recognize a figure like myself in women’s basketball. I could walk our campus and students are coming up to me saying, ‘My dad loves you. My mom loves you.’ Right?

“We’re here in Birmingham, walked through the hotel, they were not all Gamecock fans. They are people who are part of this community, wanting pictures and autographs and showing their appreciation. Like, it’s an honor to give it back to them. It truly is an honor. It’s a necessity, and it’s something that we have to do, but the love is felt.”