OSU Hoops Schedules Three-Game Series With College of Charleston

Oklahoma State announced Thursday that it has agreed to a three-game series with College of Charleston, the reigning Colonial Athletic Conference champions, beginning in 2018.

The first game of the series is slated for Nov. 18, 2018 when the Cougars travel to Stillwater. They will return again in the 2020-2021 season on a date yet to be set. In return, Oklahoma State will travel to Charleston’s TD Arena next season in 2019-2020.

College of Charleston was a dominant force last season in the CAA, posting a league best 14-4 conference record (tied with Northeastern) and a 26-8 overall record. The Cougars earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament where, as a 13 seed, they gave 4 seed Auburn a run before falling 62-58 in the first round.

Senior star Joe Chealey is the biggest departee from Charleston’s tournament squad a season ago, but soon-to-be junior Grant Riller, who led the team at 18.6 points per game last season, is slated to be a star in 2018 and could be OSU’s biggest challenge come November.

Charleston finished the 2017-18 season at No. 61 in the RPI and 115th in KenPom, so a series against the Cougars — who have yet to finish lower than 122nd in KenPom since the 2015 season — should only help boost OSU’s metrics as they aim to make a run at an NCAA Tournament for the first time under Mike Boynton in 2018-19.

You can add Charleston to a growing list of impressive nonconference opponents for the Pokes next season that includes Houston, Nebraska, South Carolina, Minnesota and possibly Villanova.