One of the teams the Gophers are battling on the bubble with these days is Southern Miss.

The Golden Eagles enter a conference semifinal matchup with Conference USA’s top seed Louisiana Tech on Friday. If Southern Miss loses to the Bulldogs, it’s likely out of the conversation. 

But if Southern Miss beats Louisiana Tech and fell in the Conference USA final, it might have a shot at the dance.

The Gophers have a few connections with the Golden Eagles.

The first, Southern Miss head coach Donnie Tyndall, was DeAndre Mathieu’s coach at Morehead State.

The second connection is Chip Armelin.

Armelin came off the bench for two seasons at Minnesota before deciding to transfer.

Nowadays, he is averaging 4.8 points and two boards a game for the Golden Eagles.

“He’s doing well,” said Tyndall, who added that Armelin, who is currently behind senior guard Jerrold Brooks, has a chance to start next season.

Tyndall’s scouting report of Armelin sounds eerily similar to how the guard looked in Minnesota.

“He’s a streaky shooter,” Tyndall said. “He has the athleticism to drive the ball and do so much more, but he wants to settle for jump shots all the time. He’s been up and down. … He’s just inconsistent. He’s a good kid, he’s very coachable. He practices the right way. He’s streaky. He can’t get it through his head that he’s not a shooter, so go do something else.”

“He’s a real, real laid back kid, so he doesn’t have that killer mentality. He drives to the lane once, and a killer would drive it to the lane three more times. Well, he’ll drive it once and then settles for a jumper.”

Armelin has a chance to kill, or at least damage, the Gophers tournament hopes by helping Southern Miss earn a victory against Louisiana Tech on Friday night.