Rebels' Olejniczak following in his mother's basketball footsteps

OXFORD — Ole Miss had played and won at Georgia on Saturday.

That meant Sunday was a day off, a day away from required basketball activities.

Breein Tyree knew where he would find Dominik Olejniczak in the early-morning hours on such a day. Olejniczak, the Rebels’ center, was in the Tuohy Center, working up a sweat and attempting to refine his game.

“Dom has been getting better by the hour,” said Tyree, Ole Miss’ star guard. “He’s getting better right now. He’s a really hard worker.”

Of course, the gym has always been Olejniczak’s home away from home. His mother, Joanna Chełczyńska, played professional basketball in Olejniczak’s native Poland for the better part of two decades. Chełczyńska was a 5-foot-8 guard for teams such as Energa Torun and KS Odra Brzeg. She was playing for Consus Old Basket Team Torun as late as 2014.

“My dad (Grzegorz Olejniczak) stayed at home and my mom was jumping between all the cities in Poland,” Olejniczak said. “I was with my mom. I changed schools all the time. I was with her every practice. I was like 7 and she wouldn’t leave me home alone so I would go with her to practice and that type of stuff. I was at every game with her, away and home.”

Despite spending so much of his childhood in practice gyms and arenas all over Poland, young Olejniczak had no real interest in the sport his mother played for a living.

“It’s funny because I never wanted to play basketball,” Olejniczak said. “People would say, ‘You should play basketball,’ but I didn’t want to do it. She was just my mom. That was her job. I was with her always. But it wasn’t like, ‘That’s my hero. That’s my role model. I want to be like that.’”

When he was 11 _ and a very tall 11 at that _ his parents forced him to go to basketball practice.

“They forced me for like the first year and a half, and then (snapping his fingers), I just fell in love,” Olejniczak said. “From that point on, they didn’t have to do anything.”

Olejniczak’s basketball career developed quickly in Poland. He averaged 14 points and seven rebounds per game for SMS PZKosz Wladyslawowo in Poland’s second division. He then posted 7.5 points and five rebounds per game for Poland during the U-18 Division A European Championships in the summer of 2015 and played for the Polish National Team in the U-20 European Championships in Greece in summer of 2016.

His mother played a huge role in his basketball development, Olejniczak said.

“She gave me a lot of advice,” Olejniczak said. “You know how parents are when it comes to sports. She knows everything, so she was always was saying this or that, you did this wrong, you did that wrong, that type of deal.

“She was a guard but just having a basketball mentality, doing the right things, the communication, the basics. She never played (center). She was a guard, so she couldn’t teach me much as far as being a post player. She was a shooter. I’m not. But she taught me the basics of basketball.”

Olejniczak signed with Drake after coaches at the Des Moines, Iowa, school heard about Olejniczak through their relationship with Polish native Rafal Juc, then an international scout for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets. They communicated through Facebook, using a dentist in Torun to help translate.

Olejniczak played in 20 games as a freshman at Drake, averaging 6.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He transferred to Ole Miss, where he sat out in 2016-17 and struggled as a redshirt freshman, posting 4.3 points and 2.6 rebounds per game for a team that struggled mightily in Southeastern Conference play.

Kermit Davis replaced Andy Kennedy at Ole Miss last March. Davis coached Olejniczak hard, imploring the 7-footer to move on from a mistake and take his focus to the next play.

“I’ve always been a hard critic of myself,” Olejniczak said. “I’ve also told myself, ‘You’ve got to be 100 percent.’ It affects me. Basketball is a game of mistakes and I know that but I still beat myself up and the next play would come and the guy would score a layup or something like that or I’d get a second chance and miss the layup.

“Kermit, oh my God, he was so much on my ass but because of that, I don’t think about it. I miss and now (clapping his hands), I go back. ‘We’ve got to go. Right away.’”

Olejniczak also learned a lesson from a disappointing first year in the SEC. He had to get stronger. So he dedicated himself in the weight room, adding 17 pounds of muscle and getting in better shape, helping prepare for the elite big men of the league, such as Auburn’s Austin Wiley, who Olejniczak will square off against tonight when the Rebels (16-7 overall, 6-4 SEC) meet the Tigers (16-7, 5-5) at Auburn Arena.

“This is my second year to play,” Olejniczak said. “I’ve been here three years. It’s experience. I feel more comfortable with what’s coming at me and I’m more prepared. I’ve worked on my body since last year. I’ve gained 17 pounds and I feel much stronger. The guys may be more athletic than me but I don’t feel they’re stronger than me or they can out-physical me now.”

Chełczyńska is retired from basketball now. She works in Torun as an activities director. She’s never been to the United States and she doesn’t speak a word of English. So after a recent Ole Miss game (a home loss to Iowa State), Olejniczak not only spoke to RebelGrove.com but he also served as an interpreter for his mom.

The loss to the Cyclones tipped at 11 a.m. CST, meaning it began at 7 p.m. in Torun. Chełczyńska had watched, cheering for the Rebels and ready to critique her son’s effort. Asked if she saw much of her game in her son’s, Chełczyńska responded with what sounded like a quick “Nyet.”

“We play different spots, so it’s hard for me to compare,” Chełczyńska said. “I think the first step, when he’s driving the ball, that was my signature.”

“I don’t know why but that’s what she said,” Olejniczak said, laughing.

Through 23 games so far this season, Olejniczak has started 17. He’s playing more than 19 minutes per game and averaging 6.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. He’s shooting 58.6 percent from the floor (up from 53.1 percent a season ago) and he’s hitting 77.4 percent of his free throws, the one aspect of her son’s game Chełczyńska takes most credit for.

“He’s gotten much better this year,” said Kennedy, now an analyst for the ESPN-owned SEC Network.

I’m not really worried about Dom’s growth in the game,” Tyree said. “He’s an exceptionally hard worker and he wants to win. That’s all you can ask for.”

As you would likely expect, Chełczyńska loves watching her son play the game she spent so much of her life playing.

“I was very happy because he decided from his free will to follow my steps,” Chełczyńska said.

Tonight’s game will tip off at 3:30 a.m. Thursday in Torun. Chełczyńska will go to bed early, wake up in time to watch the Rebels and the Tigers and then go to work. She and her husband would love to come to Mississippi to visit their son, but it’s not easy.

“It was really hard at first to separate from my little baby but I’m happy because he’s followed his dreams,” Chełczyńska said. “It’s easier for me now because he’s doing what he loves and he’s following his dreams. I’m happy with it.

“I’ve never been to the States, so I’d like to go there and learn the culture at first. I just want to see where he lives and go to his games. He’s been telling me how awesome his games are now and I’d love to go and see the atmosphere and the fans and the college game with my own eyes and not on TV.”

The Rebels enter tonight’s game in strong shape for an NCAA Tournament bid, either a No. 8 or a No. 9 seed in every major bracket projection. Of course, with at least eight games left after the trip to Auburn, anything could happen. That’s problematic for travel planning purposes.

“It’s a lot of hassle with visas and plane tickets are not cheap either,” Olejniczak said following the loss to Iowa State late last month. “The plan was, since we were playing so good, they really wanted to come to the NCAA Tournament. Maybe that won’t happen. Maybe it will. So it’s really hard for them to book a ticket when it’s maybe not.”

It’s probably too much pressure _ not to mention a shade dramatic _ to say a couple’s first ever trip from Europe to North America to see their son hangs on whether the Rebels can make the NCAA Tournament. Olejniczak isn’t doing that to himself but he’s confident in he and his teammates.

“We work our ass off, so we’re ready for whatever is coming for us,” Olejniczak said.

Of course, there will be plenty of chances to see Olejniczak play basketball. He’s got another year of eligibility at Ole Miss and Olejniczak dreams of playing professionally in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, Europe’s version of the NBA.

Chełczyńska would be thrilled to see her son follow in her footsteps, but like any mom, she’s proud no matter what. Basketball can be fickle. A mom’s love isn’t.

“Time will show,” Chełczyńska said. “I’ll be happy with wherever he ends up."