SEC Tournament 2015: Semifinals Scores, Championship Bracket and Schedule

The 2015 SEC tournament has the most intriguing storyline in all of college basketball, especially as the finals inch closer. Saturday saw the final four teams, led by undefeated Kentucky, look to stake their claim as the best in the conference. 

In typical March Madness fashion, the SEC tournament has featured its share of upsets. No one would have predicted three days ago that Auburn would still be playing on Saturday, though the Tigers wound up being the only surprise in the semifinals with Kentucky, Arkansas and Georgia being the top three teams coming out of the regular season. 

With two games on the slate for Saturday, here's a recap of the action as it goes final and a look at the schedule for the remaining games. 

Semifinal Scores

Game	Matchup	Final/Start Time (ET)
11	No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Auburn	Kentucky, 91-67
12	No. 2 Arkansas vs. No. 3 Georgia	Arkansas, 60-49

Tournament Bracket (via Brandon Marcello of Alabama Media Group)

Championship Game Schedule

Matchup	Start Time (ET)	Network
No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 2 Arkansas	1 p.m.	ESPN

Arkansas Cruises into Title Game

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

After a sluggish start by both teams, Arkansas' offense finally came alive in the second half against Georgia to send the Razorbacks into the SEC Championship Game with a 60-49 victory. 

One reason Arkansas struggled to play at the fast pace it usually does is that Bobby Portis never got going. The SEC Player of the Year finished with four points on 1-of-14 shooting. 

In some ways, as noted by Anthony Amey of WSB-TV in Atlanta, Portis' struggles make Arkansas' margin of victory look more impressive:

The game wasn't a total bust for Portis, as he made history for the Razorbacks, per the school's official basketball Twitter account:

If there is a downside for Portis and Arkansas, it's looking at what awaits on Sunday. Kentucky just saw the SEC's top player struggle against a solid Georgia team, so what's going to happen when the Wildcats defense gets a crack at him?

Yet for all of Portis' struggles, no one shot well in this game. Both teams looked sluggish, possibly tired from playing an early-afternoon game after last night's matchups. Arkansas shot 37.3 percent from the floor, while Georgia was worse at 32.7 percent.  

In a losing effort, Marcus Thornton held up his end of the bargain for Georgia. The Bulldogs' leading scorer finished with 13 points, but the four other starters combined for 10 points and three field goals.

The win gives Arkansas a chance to win its second SEC tournament in school history as well as end Kentucky's dreams of an undefeated season. It won't be easy, as the Razorbacks were run off the court at Rupp Arena in an 84-67 loss on February 28.

Arkansas will need to play much better offensively to have a shot, but what happens in one game doesn't necessarily indicate something bad in the next one.

Kentucky Ends Auburn's Dream Run

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Auburn put together one of the most surprising runs of any team in a conference tournament, but it came to a screeching halt against the nation's top team, with Kentucky dominating all 40 minutes en route to a 91-67 victory. 

The win moves the Wildcats to 33-0 and seven wins away from completing a perfect season. Per the SEC Network, it was also a historic result, as it gave Kentucky the longest winning streak in conference history:

It wasn't a surprise result, however, as Kentucky defeated Auburn by 35 points in their regular-season matchup on February 21. 

This was also a concise representation of everything that Kentucky does well, as the team shot well from inside and outside and displayed a tenacity on defense no one in the country can match. 

Willie Cauley-Stein led the charge for Kentucky, finishing with 18 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. That's a scary thought entering the tournament, as John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader noted the big power forward wanted to be more assertive on offense:

This was a true team effort, though, as four Wildcats players scored in double-figures and contributed 17 assists on 27 field goals made. 

On the defensive end, Kentucky took away the thing that made Auburn so effective in the first three rounds. KT Harrell didn't have his shot going, finishing with 13 points on 1-of-12 shooting. 

The three-point shot was also a key for Bruce Pearl's team in previous rounds, but as ESPN Stats & Info showed after the first half, it wasn't happening on Saturday:

Even though the loss is going to look like a bad result, Auburn really has no reason to be disappointed in the outcome. The Tigers had four conference wins during the regular season but pulled out three in the previous three days. 

It's amazing to see how consistently effective John Calipari is at motivating his team game after game, even when the opponent doesn't present many problems. 

Nicole Auerbach of USA Today wrote a profile about Calipari before Kentucky began play in the SEC tournament that seemed to provide a thesis statement for why he's so successful at reaching young athletes:

"I had no desire to coach college until I went to college," Calipari said. "Then I said, 'Maybe I can do this.' You get inspired by the people around you who move you and light a fire under you."

It's hard to keep teenagers who have been told how great they are for years on a track in which they want to share credit with others to win a championship. It seemed to knock last year's Wildcats down until March started, but Calipari hasn't had that issue this season. 

Auburn wasn't the toughest competition, finishing with a 15-20 record, so let's see if the Wildcats can psych themselves up for one more game against a quality opponent in either Georgia or Arkansas before the NCAA tournament begins. 

Based on the season's first 33 games, that shouldn't be a problem.