Te-Hina Paopao urges South Carolina to learn from "embarrassing" UConn loss, take defensive matchups personally

Te-Hina Paopao and the fourth-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks lost for the second time in three games on Sunday, suffering a heavy 87-58 defeat against the seventh-ranked UConn Huskies at Colonial Life Arena. They had no answer for Azzi Fudd, who scored 18 of her game-high 28 points in the third quarter.

South Carolina's blowout defeat comes exactly one week after the Gamecocks lost to the Texas Longhorns at Moody Center. Their record dropped to 23-3 after starting the season with an impressive 22-1 slate. The Gamecocks had won 17 consecutive games before their recent struggles.

Te-Hina Paopao talked to reporters after the loss, calling South Carolina's performance "very much embarrassing" in the postgame press conference. She later urged the Gamecocks to take their defensive matchups personally after they failed to respond to UConn's sizzling start in the first half.

"We just got punked. It was very much embarrassing ... very much self-inflicted. We gotta learn and grow from this opportunity," Paopao said (Timestamp 0:42). "We know that we are a better defensive team than we played today."

"It was just a lot about effort and toughness and we didn’t bring that today with us and that’s what happens. So we just got to do a better job playing defense and taking our personal matchups even more personal."

"I think you know when someone’s scoring a lot on you, you want to be like ‘no you’re not going to score on me no more.' So we just got to do a better job in our matchups and take it personally," Paopao added.

The first quarter ended with UConn holding a 21-14 lead. That advantage ballooned to 22 points at the break after the Huskies outscored the Gamecocks 24-9 in the second quarter. The carnage continued in the second half, with UConn extending its lead against South Carolina to as many as 29 points.

Te-Hina Paopao and other South Carolina starters struggle offensively in loss to UConn

South Carolina's starters struggled on the offensive end against the UConn Huskies, combining for just 27 points on 11-of-34 shooting. Te-Hina Paopao was the lone starter to score in double figures for South Carolina with 10 points. She wasn't efficient with her offense, though, shooting 3-for-11 from the field, including 2-for-6 from beyond the arc.

South Carolina Gamecocks guard Te-Hina Paopao (#0) shoots against the UConn Huskies in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. Photo: Imagn

Bree Hall scored seven points on 3-for-7 shooting, while Chloe Kitts and Sania Feagin dropped six and four points, respectively. Raven Johnson failed to score a single point in 24 minutes of action.