'A lot of internal work': How Donovyn Hunter's growth has fueled TCU's seamless rebuild and undefeated start

How do you rebuild after losing four starters from an Elite Eight team? In 2025, you hit the transfer portal. 

Perhaps no coach in the country is better at that than Mark Campbell. After leading TCU on its deepest NCAA Tournament run in program history last season (with a team built on transfers), Campbell worked his magic again over the summer and brought in Olivia Miles, Marta Suarez, Clara Silva, Kennedy Basham, Veronica Sheffey and Taliyah Parker to reshape the Horned Frogs' roster. 

Despite nine new faces (including three freshmen), the team looks like it's been playing together for years. TCU is 12-0, has won every game by double digits, and is ranked No. 9 in the country ahead of Big 12 play, which begins this weekend when the Horned Frogs host Kansas State. In Tuesday night's dominant 55-point win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Miles and Suarez became the first pair of Division I teammates to each record a 20-point triple-double in the same game. For Miles, it was her third consecutive triple-double. 

But while the transfers have made a huge impact, TCU's ceiling would not be nearly as high without the massive leap that junior Donovyn Hunter, TCU's lone returning starter from last season, has made.

'You can definitely tell the unselfishness'

Hunter said the program's "culture" is the reason the team has been able to gel so quickly. Campbell and the coaching staff "won't recruit you if they know that you're selfish or have a high ego or are ultimately not doing it for the team," Hunter added. "We all come together and realize that for us to be great, we have to mesh with each other."

Hunter described the group as a "solid unit," and said they've gone "out of the way to understand each other outside of basketball." Their camaraderie is evident on the court, where their high-powered offense based on spacing and ball movement has been overwhelming opponents. 

TCU's 123.7 offensive rating is good for ninth in the country, and 65.1% of their baskets this season have been assisted, which ranks 29th, per CBB Analytics. As a team they are 17th in the nation in 3-point attempts per game (27.6) and 15th in 3-point percentage (38.4%). The only other school in the top-20 in both categories is Fairfield. 

While Miles is the engine of their offensive attack, the Horned Frogs have six players scoring at least seven points per game, and in 12 contests they've had five different leading scorers. Every starter besides Silva, a 6-foot-7 center, is averaging at least 2.5 assists and 3.8 3-point attempts per game. 

"You can definitely tell the unselfishness," Hunter said. "You hear a lot of teams say, 'Oh, this is a family,' and it sounds very cliche, but with how much we want to move the ball around, that alone speaks to how we are off the court as well."

'A lot of internal work'

Hunter, a former transfer herself, left Oregon State for TCU ahead of last season after the Pac-12 collapsed, and said that the freedom athletes have to enter the portal nowadays is "amazing." Ironically, though, she credited the fact that she stayed in Fort Worth as a big factor in her breakout campaign. "This year is finally my year where I'm not in a new system, I'm not the new kid," Hunter said, "I'm not having to figure out a million plays to learn in x amount of months to then execute in a game."

Hunter is averaging 14 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 52.4/41.4/77.8 shooting splits. She's putting up career-highs in every single major statistical category aside from assists, and is third on the team in scoring, fourth in assists, second in steals and second in 3-pointers made. 

Freed from having to learn a new playbook or a new city, Hunter had "raw" conversations with the coaching staff and even a "heart-to-heart" talk with herself on how she needed to grow and what she wanted for her basketball journey. She went through two ACL tears in high school, and even years removed from those injuries, she admitted that she "ultimately lacked the confidence" necessary to be the best version of herself. "It was a lot of internal work," Hunter said. "You get to the college D-I level and you realize that a lot of it is really just mental."

While Hunter knew that she could be in line for a bigger role this season due to the roster overhaul, she wanted to leave no doubt in Campbell's mind. "There's a lot of factors where you could play the victim, but I was ultimately like, I want to work so hard to where it's hard to take me out of a game," Hunter said. She made it her mission to show up for every summer workout, always finish first in sprints and focus on the defensive end. 

The results speak for themselves. Hunter's 29 minutes per game are the most she's ever played, her points per game have soared from 5.9 to 14, her shot attempts have doubled from last season and she's making nearly as many 3s per game as she took as a sophomore. Up until Wednesday, when her 3-point attempts dipped to 5.8 per game, she had been one of just 40 Division I players shooting 40% or better on at least six 3s per game. 

'There's gotta be cameras or something in your goggles'

Always a solid 3-point shooter – she was 33.3% as a freshman and 34% as a sophomore – Hunter is now a knockdown threat from behind the arc, particularly in the corner, where she is 19 of 38 (50%). "For some reason I oddly like the corner shots," Hunter said, adding that she's felt comfortable there ever since she was young because in her head it's easier for her to line her shot up. That makes her a perfect fit for TCU's spread pick-and-roll system. The Horned Frogs take 14.9% of their field goal attempts from the 3-point corners, nearly double the national average of 8.3%, per CBB Analytics. 

Hunter has also formed an immediate connection with Miles, one of the best playmakers in the country and a projected lottery pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. All summer, Hunter practiced sprinting from halfcourt to the corner and taking catch-and-shoot 3s. Now, when the ball arrives from Miles, who has assisted on 16 of Hunter's 29 made 3s, it's second nature to rise and fire. The only slight issue is that Hunter doesn't always know when the ball is coming. 

"It is insane," Hunter said of Miles' court vision. "We joke, I'm like, 'there's gotta be cameras or something in your goggles. I don't know how you see half the things you do.'"

Hunter and her teammates have actually resorted to reverse scouting Miles' mannerisms so they could have a better idea of when she will actually throw a pass. That's worked to an extent – Hunter understandably declined to divulge what they've picked up – but just in case they remain shot-ready at all times when Miles has the ball. 

'Set the standard'

While TCU's offense rightfully receives most of the attention, the Horned Frogs are quietly first in the country in defensive rating (68.5) and opponent field goal percentage (29.4%). Their fairly soft non-conference schedule has influenced that number, but you can't fake your way to the top-ranked defense. 

The Horned Frogs' 1-2-2 full-court press is a key to their success, and Hunter is the point of the spear. She's responsible for forcing the ball to one side of the floor or the other, jumping in passing lanes and generally making it difficult for opponents to cross halfcourt and start their offense. 

Hunter honed her defensive acumen through grueling 1-on-1 sessions with her older brother growing up. (Her parents ran a basketball training facility in her hometown of Medford, Oregon.) She would not get an offensive possession, and had to figure out how to stop him over and over again even though he was bigger and more athletic than her. Through that experience, Hunter became adept at using angles to cut off opponents and keying in on their tendencies. 

To this day, Hunter takes "pride" in her play on that side of the ball – she would rather get a steal than make a 3 – and knows that she has to "set the standard" for her teammates. "If I'm slacking and they drive by me, that sets everybody into a scramble," she said. 

'We know we have bigger goals'

Hunter said that coming into the season, her goal was to "find a lot of joy in the game" and "maximize" all of her time. "If I can control all of the things I can control, then I'll be content with whatever happens," she said. 

So far, everything has gone to plan. Hunter is playing the best basketball of her life and TCU is undefeated. The Horned Frogs are on track for another NCAA Tournament run, and the first Final Four appearance in school history is not out of the question. But for now, no one in Fort Worth wants to get ahead of themselves. 

"It is a great feeling to start off strong, but our team's mindset is focused on one game at a time, because we know we have bigger goals," Hunter said. "We know what it takes to make it deeper into the season."