Wisconsin senior guard Tessa Cichy’s competitive nature has been ingrained in her ever since she was a kid. And with the Badgers (2-6 Big Ten, 6-12 overall) currently reeling, Cichy and her teammates need it to shine now more than ever when they visit the Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-3, 14-5) Wednesday night.
“She had that [fight] long before she got here,” head coach Bobbie Kelsey said. “Tessa’s just a glue kid. She just wants the ball. She cuts down the lane three times to get a layup. Anybody can do that. She just has a nose and a knack for trying to get into cracks and crevices.”
With the Badgers’ currently struggling to find victories in Big Ten play, every little crevice and crack that can be eked out en route to a victory is important.
Junior forward Avyanna Young remembers Cichy’s gritty nature from when Young was still playing at UW-Milwaukee. And now they’re both teammates, Young’s admiration has morphed into inspiration.
“I remember playing her my sophomore year at Milwaukee. And she’s always been the same. It doesn’t matter if she’s the first one to score or not, she’ll always sacrifice her body,” Young said. “And then me being big, I know I can dominate those boards, but to keep doing it because somebody like her is smaller than me is doing it all the time. It makes me think, there’s no reason why I can’t be doing it or shouldn’t be doing it.”
Offensive rebounding has been a key for the Badgers all season long. But with the Badgers losing three of their last four games by single digits, its importance has been augmented.
“I think our focus of a lot of games is boxing out. I think Minnesota had 22 offensive rebounds in the last game and that’s a big thing because we only ended up losing by seven,” Cichy said.
The Badgers actually had 22 offensive rebounds themselves, five of those coming from Cichy. All of Cichy’s rebounds in Wisconsin’s 84-77 loss to Minnesota Saturday morning were on the offensive end, which is just a further testament to her tenacious attitude.
Cichy came off the bench for the fourth straight game Saturday after missing the Badgers’ first four games of the conference season with mononucleosis, but after 35 feisty minutes of play off the bench Saturday, Cichy’s constant effort is expected to result in her promotion back to the Badgers’ starting lineup.
Whether starting, coming off the bench or even just playing games with her family, Cichy has always been a ferocious competitor.
“I’ve never not had it. I’ve lost games and stuff, but I do not like to lose. Even when I was younger we’d be playing board games, I hated losing,” Cichy said.
Her competitive nature was apparent in seemingly uncompetitive environments as well.
“I always got in trouble. I would get good grades when I was little, but I would get a check on my report card for not letting others get a turn cause I always tried to answer the question,” Cichy admits. “I’ve toned it down a little bit letting others speak, but it’s just who I am. And for the most part, my teammates like who I am.”
Last Sunday, one minute into the fourth quarter, which turned out to be best offensive period of the Badgers’ season, Cichy’s competitive spirit nearly boiled over.
After an attempt to grab an offensive rebound led her off the court, Cichy picked up a cheap reach-in foul running back on defense. Upon hearing the whistle blow, she looked at the ref, and appeared to say, “that’s not a foul.” The ball fell to her foot and she moved it into the ball, or depending on your definition, kicked it.
“The ball kick wasn’t actually meant to be. It kinda just happened to be at my foot and I walked forward and it happened to be like that,” she said. “But I wasn’t going to pick it up."
Kelsey laughed in agreement.
“As long as she’s not getting technical fouls, you don’t want to be unsportsmanlike, but you certainly want to show some emotion that you care what’s going on around here,” Kelsey added.
Cichy certainly does care. Wednesday night, look for Cichy’s ferocious attitude to guide her toward the rim on both ends of the floor, hoping to pull out a rebound that just might be the difference.
“With Nebraska, I think they have a lot of good players. [Senior guard Rachel] Theriot is obviously a great player. They have a really good post. Mostly all of them can shoot,” Cichy said. “Shooters means long rebounds, it means boxing out, and I think that’s obviously going to be one of our main focuses.”
Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb.
