South Carolina had an impressive 75-59 win at Ole Miss. Here’s what stood out to me from the game.

– I joked during the game that Joyce Edwards picked a good game to have a bad game. Edwards had some trouble adjusting to how the Rebels were playing her in the first half and got into early foul trouble.

It didn’t matter because Sania Feagin and Chloe Kitts were playing so well that South Carolina needed to keep them on the floor. 

Edwards battled through the early issues and still finished with 10 points despite only playing 15 minutes. That’s a pretty nice “bad game.”

– I watched a lot of Chloe Kitts in high school while South Carolina was recruiting her, and the player I saw then was the same one I saw on Thursday. In high school, she was a threat to shoot or drive, a solid rebounder, and a great passer.

Kitts hasn’t always shown that same versatility in college, but we’ve seen glimpses. The rebounding, shooting, and driving have been there. The passing has been a little behind, but a lot of that is because she isn’t being asked to be as much of a distributor.

It all came together perfectly on Thursday. A smaller opponent, the kind Kitts thrives against, playing more minutes because of Edwards’ early foul trouble, and the right matchups.

Against Ole Miss, South Carolina did ask Kitts to be a playmaker, and she delivered. South Carolina often broke the Ole Miss press by having a forward bring the ball up. Kitts was effective at getting South Carolina quickly into its offense.

Win tickets to Senior Day, South Carolina-Kentucky women’s basketball game

Then South Carolina just ran a two-player game between Kitts and Sania Feagin over and over, and the Rebels never figured out how to stop it.

– If every top 16 reveal guarantees a round of upsets, let’s do it more often. I was surprised the committee ranked Notre Dame ahead of South Carolina for the last one seed. Especially with what followed.

Notre Dame went out and lost at home to no. 24 Florida State, its second straight defeat and putting the Irish in a must-win game on Sunday. LSU lost at no. 20 Alabama, its luck in close games finally running out. And Texas survived at unranked Mississippi State, its second uninspiring game of the week. Plus, Kentucky blew out Tennessee by 24 in a game they led by 30 for most of the fourth quarter.

You know who won by double digits on the road against a top-15 NET opponent? South Carolina.