EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Golf is projected to place fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference in 2025.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock claimed the top spot in the preseason poll with nine first-place votes and 99 points. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville was predicted second with 92 points and two first-place votes after a runner-up season in 2024. The University of Tennessee at Martin rounded out the top three with 79 points.
Morehead State University was selected fourth with 72 points, ahead of USI in fifth with 60 points. Lindenwood University was picked sixth with 55 points. Reigning OVC champion Tennessee Tech University came in seventh with 45 points. Bryant University (39) and Western Illinois University (28) were projected as eighth and ninth, respectively. Eastern Illinois University and Tennessee State University were tied for a 10th-place projection (18).
The Screaming Eagles tee off their spring championship season on March 14 in a match-play event against the University of Evansville before heading to Springfield, Missouri for the Twin Oaks Intercollegiate March 17-18.
Following its mid-March slate, USI will flip the calendar over at the Golfweek/AGT Intercollegiate at Pawleys Island, South Carolina, from March 31 to April 2. The Screaming Eagles will then head to Nashville, Tennessee, April 7-8 for the Big Blue Intercollegiate, hosted by OVC-foe Tennessee State. USI’s final tune-up tournament before the OVC Championship Tournament will be April 13-14 at the Wright State University Invitational in Springboro, Ohio.
The Ohio Valley Conference Championship Tournament is scheduled for April 20-23. The tournament returns to Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, which last hosted the OVC tournament in 2022-23. USI finished third in the stroke play portion of the tournament in 2023 before a match-play semifinal loss to SIUE. Last year’s tournament was held at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Muscle Shoals in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The Screaming Eagles finished tied for fifth.
As part of the OVC’s preseason announcement, USI senior Jason Bannister was named to the OVC Men’s Players to Watch list. Bannister is coming off a solid fall season with five top-15 finishes and two top-five finishes. Bannister best finish in the fall was third at the Wichita State University Grier Jones Shocker Invitational. The senior’s other top five was at the UT Martin Grover Page Classic, where he posted a fall-best six-under par. Bannister’s best round of the fall was a 66 at the SIUE Dolenc Invitational to open the preseason. Bannister recorded a team 54-hole-best score of 209 and a team-best average of 70.88 strokes during the fall. The senior was an All-OVC selection after a USI record-setting season in 2023-24.
2024-25 Men’s Predicted Order of Finish
1. Little Rock (9 first-place votes) – 99 points
2. SIUE (2) – 92
3. UT Martin – 79
4. Morehead State – 72
5. Southern Indiana – 60
6. Lindenwood – 55
7. Tennessee Tech – 45
8. Bryant – 39
9. Western Illinois – 28
10. Eastern Illinois – 18
Tennessee State – 18
2024-25 Men’s Players to Watch
Tyler Dupuis, Bryant
Cole Jaworski, Eastern Illinois
Santiago Juesas Benet, Lindenwood
Matteo Cristoni, Little Rock
Nolan Piazza, Morehead State
Brady Kaufmann, SIUE
Jason Bannister, Southern Indiana
Bryar Moss, Tennessee State
Haden Maxwell, Tennessee Tech
Jackson Twerdahl, UT Martin
Baptiste Labeyrie, Western Illinois
