Te-Hina Paopao’s journey from Oregon to South Carolina has transformed her into the makings of a future WNBA Draft pick

In the Samoan culture, family is key. It’s valuing the ones you love and the people in which you share your life experiences. A popular Samoan proverb goes “E leai se mea e sili atu i lo lou aiga,” roughly translated to mean “Nothing is more important than your family.”

Coming out of the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, Te-Hina Paopao wanted to stay on the West Coast to be close to her family. So, the five-star high school recruit decided to go nearly 1,000 miles up the coast to Eugene, Oregon.

After three seasons with the Oregon Ducks, leading the team since the moment she stepped on campus as a freshman, Paopao made the decision to find a new challenge and entered the transfer portal. Then, national championship-winning head coach Dawn Staley called.

With the South Carolina Gamecocks on the radar, how did Paopao decide to make the move to the South while her four siblings and family still resided in California?

“It was either ‘you’re gonna come with me or you’re just gonna stay at home and watch from afar,’” said Paopao.

With her family staying in California, except for her brother Israel, the first move up to Oregon was intentional. It was a way to stay somewhat close to family and on the same coast.

The second move was for Paopao and her hopes for the future, as she made the move to South Carolina. Unlike a move as a freshman where a player is prone to want to bring as much of their life with them as possible, Paopao had the chance to complete at the highest level of college basketball. That made the decision to move easy.

“All I really needed was a bed and where to sleep at, and play basketball at,” said Paopao.

Paopao didn’t only find a place to play basketball but a program where the graduate senior guard could thrive. As a Duck, Paopao was the focal point of the team, thriving offensively for an Oregon side that struggled to keep up with teams more active in the transfer portal.

In Paopao’s first year in the SEC, the Gamecocks won everything there is to win in college basketball. The conference regular season title, tournament championship and ultimately the national championship, overcoming guard Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in an undefeated season — led by Paopao at point guard.

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A fantastic debut season in Columbia also won Paopao a spot on the All-American Second Team, but that wasn’t enough.

As a Gamecock, Paopao became part of Staley’s on-court machine, a team expected to bring intensity each time they step on the court. Instead of being one of two or three top recruits at Oregon, Paopao joined a team featuring 10 McDonald’s All-Americans, with each playing around the same minutes, and a few coming off the bench.

That level of competition breeds the intensity that makes Staley’s teams so well known. An important piece of South Carolina’s success is playing strong defense, an area of struggle for Paopao in the Pac-12. The guard entered her new family and despite a historic season, Paopao saw her defensive play in that first year as lacking.

“I wouldn’t say I was a weak link, but I feel like at the same time I was a weak link,” said Paopao.

The stats tell a different story. Paopao played the best defense of her career in her first year under a new coach, a new system and while facing against new opponents. Paopao’s defensive rating was the lowest of her career at 85.1, meaning for every 100 possessions, teams averaged 85.1 points when Paopao was on the court, almost nine less points than her final junior season in Oregon.

“She’s comfortable and there is nothing like comfort. She knows the shots that we’re setting her up for, she has met us halfway with the ability to defend, I’m really impressed with her defense and then her ability to adjust,” said Staley in January when the John R. Wooden Award for best player in the nation included Paopao on its shortlist.

Even so, it wasn’t good enough for the guard. Any athlete wants to improve, but Paopao doesn’t rest on what got her to every basketball player’s dream of winning a national title. Paopao has another engine, another level, that’s hard to find.

She started studying tape with more intention than before, taking advantage of extra time with coaches to scout opponents and fill in the gaps she sees in her own game.

“She’s a pro, pro habits puts her in a position to where she can just comfortably play her style of play and adjust when needed,” said Staley. Basically, saying out loud what fans have seen in the guard since stepping foot in South Carolina — Paopao is a professional basketball player in the college ranks.

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That work ethic meant Paopao is hitting new levels in the 24-25 season. Her defense? Even better than last year’s career high, with Paopao’s defensive rating down another two points to 83.9.

Offensively, Paopao’s game is changing too. The guard grew more comfortable with taking deep shots over her three seasons in Oregon. Paopao became more of a perimeter shooter, which carried over to South Carolina.

Playing under the tutelage of Staley, one of the best point guards in USA Basketball history, Paopao was challenged to change her game.

“Last year, my job was just to make three-pointers, you know, make shots beyond the arc because we had such a dominant big who was a willing passer,” said Paopao about Kamilla Cardoso, who now plays with the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. “And this year, I think I had a different role was to, you know, attack the paint, attack closeouts, and just grow my game because I know that I’m much more, I’m known as a three-point shooter, but I knew coming in that I could be a three-level scorer and I feel like I’ve been able to do that. And it just opens up the game more for my teammates as well.”

This season, Paopao’s three-point shooting is down, hitting 1.7 a game which is the second lowest average in her career after her injury-ridden freshman and sophomore campaigns. Paopao is taking more shots inside the arc and at the highest efficiency in her career, shooting 59.3 percent from the floor.

Also, watch the language Paopao uses and while there are mentions of her improvement, it normally goes back to the team. When it came to her defense, she felt like a “weak link,” or a part of a greater chain. When improving her offensive game, it goes back to opening up games more “for my teammates.”

The Gamecocks are Paopao’s family. They celebrate success together and they suffer the defeats as a group. Now, in Paopao’s time at South Carolina there hasn’t been much of the latter, but on Nov. 24 the UCLA Bruins snapped the Gamecocks’ 43-game winning streak. As a team leader, Paopao brought a unique viewpoint to the loss.

“There was a lot of outside noise and I think as the team that we came closer together knowing that we can’t listen to the outside noise and let the people dictate what type of team we’re gonna be after loss like that,” said Paopao. “But I think that loss just lifted tons of weight upon our shoulders.”

Since then, Paopao and the Gamecocks have 15 wins in a row, including eight over ranked opponents. Monday night, South Carolina finished off an unprecedented run of five straight wins over top-20 opponents. Not only wins but complete domination of some of the top teams in the country, like a 41-point margin of victory over the then No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners and defeating the then No. 5 Texas Longhorns by 17 points.

With the outside noise adequately blocked, and the results to prove it, the next goal for South Carolina is repeating their claim as the top team in the nation. The Gamecocks are well on their way, leading the conference with a perfect 8-0 record in SEC play.

At season’s end though, Paopao’s next goal comes into full focus — a spot in the WNBA.

Paopao will enter the WNBA draft alongside other top talent in the country. Potential names like UConn’s Paige Bueckers and Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles. All season, scouts watch these top teams in the nation, hoping to find that player who fits into their roster and can help achieve their own goal of a WNBA title.

When looking through the list of available players, Paopao’s name should jump off the page. Not only for her own winning history, but as a family-focused player who doesn’t settle.

“I’m a competitor, I’m a winner, and I just wanna compete and win,” said Paopao. “And I’m willing to do that at all aspects. And I really hope they can see that and just know that I’m gonna be more than ready. I’m gonna be prepared and I’m just gonna be really confident going in.”

The graduate senior is going to have her family along for the ride. Since moving to South Carolina, two of Paopao’s siblings moved across the country in support. At the 2024 Final Four in Cleveland, Ohio, Paopao’s basketball even brought together extended family back together for the first time in years, despite the guard logging thousands of miles in moves from coast to coast.

So, when Paopao talks about doing whatever it takes to succeed, it’s not lip service or athlete talk. It’s proven on and off the court for the past five years by herself and her family’s willingness to support. Along the way, adding not only to her list of basketball abilities but to strengthening her already tight family bonds.

“Knowing that I have such a strong support system, it makes me want to play harder for them and just seeing them after the games, it really makes my heart full.”