College of Charleston, Citadel face each other for final time as SoCon rivals

When College of Charleston and The Citadel walk off the basketball court tonight at TD Arena, it will mark a change for the downtown rivals separated by just a couple of miles.

Unless the Cougars and Bulldogs meet in the Southern Conference tournament in March, this game will be the final time they face each other as members of the SoCon. It also likely will be the last time they play each other twice in a season.

The College of Charleston is leaving the Southern Conference to join the Colonial Athletic Association next season. The Cougars joined the SoCon in 1998.

Today’s game, which starts at 7 p.m., marks the 90th meeting between The Citadel and College of Charleston. The Cougars lead the series, 50-39, and are 22-5 during SoCon play.

“I guess it is kind of a pretty significant game considering all the history between the two teams,” said first-year College of Charleston coach Doug Wojcik, who got his first taste of the rivalry just 10 days ago when the Cougars beat the Bulldogs, 73-69, at McAlister Field House.

“It’s been a really competitive series over the years and there’s certainly a local flavor, a local interest, to it. It’s a rivalry game, but we’re trying to look at it like any other game, it’s a big game because it’s our next game.”

Officials from the College of Charleston and The Citadel have already had preliminary meetings about continuing the series that dates back to 1901. Wojcik and Citadel head coach Chuck Driesell have been close friends for nearly three decades and have already talked about scheduling a game for next season.

“All of The Citadel people I talk to would like to see it continue, so I’m all for it,” Driesell said. “It’s a great game and should remain on our schedule. (Doug) and I have talked it about preliminarily. We’ll play once a year, either here or there, and the following year, we’ll flip-flop. Once we get it worked out where it starts, we’ll just rotate from there.”

Wojcik said the Cougars would be willing to play next season at The Citadel.

“We’re definitely going to play,” Wojcik said. “It’s about nailing down a date right now. We’re hoping to schedule it sometime between November and December, but I know we’ll work it out.”

College of Charleston athletic director Joe Hull said he hopes to continue playing other in-state SoCon rivals — Wofford and Furman — along with Davidson.

“Our first priority is going to be The Citadel, and that’s not just in basketball. That’ll be all sports,” Hull said. “As soon as we made the decision to go to the CAA, we called The Citadel and talked about scheduling. There’s some work to be done, but in every sport we both compete in we’re planning on playing.

“As far as other SoCon schools, if it makes sense for both schools, we want to continue to play each other. We’re just not as far along with those schools as we are with the Citadel.”

Although Citadel freshman Matt Van Scyoc got his first taste of the rivalry just 10 days ago, he already understands its intensity. Van Scyoc was whistled for a technical foul during the first meeting.

“We’d like to play them as often as possible,” Van Scyoc said. “Just from playing one game, I can see what a good rivalry it is. During the summer, we go over and play with their guys, so we know most of them personally. We know them well. It’s a fun game. To be able to keep it going, that would be awesome.”