UAAP unveils Season 88 first round basketball schedule

September 18 ------ The UAAP on Saturday officially released its first-round schedule for the basketball competitions that will begin next weekend inside the campus of Season 88 host University of Santo Tomas. Among the highly anticipated men’s division games are the first playdate at Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sept. 27, the renewal of the Ateneo-La Salle rivalry on Oct. 5 at Mall of Asia Arena and the Finals rematch between the University of the Philippines and La Salle on Oct. 19 at the Big Dome.

Earlier announced were the opening weekend matches at UST’s Quadricentennial Pavilion with Far Eastern University and Ateneo squaring off at 2 p.m. followed by La Salle and Adamson at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 20. National University plays University of the East at 1 p.m., followed by UP opening its defense of the crown against UST at 4:30 p.m., with tickets for both games to be sold separately.

The U-16 division will also begin on Sept. 20 at the same venue while the women’s competition starts on Sept. 24 at UST. UST will host the first three playdates of the league’s three basketball divisions with both Araneta and MOA being used as venues for the ongoing FIVB Men’s World Championships. Araneta’s first staging of Season 88 on the 27th has NU-FEU at 8 a.m. and UST-La Salle at 10 a.m. in the U-16, NU launching its back-to-back bid in the women’s side against FEU at 12 noon.

The men’s games follow, pitting NU-FEU at 2 p.m. and La Salle-UST at 4:30 p.m., before the UST-La Salle women’s match caps the busy day at 7 p.m. The 98th UAAP meeting of La Salle and Ateneo also marks the first set of games at MOA this season, while the UP-La Salle showdown wraps up the initial phase of the eliminations, as common practice. UST will have six playdates, Araneta five, and MOA three, while the venue for the Oct. 11 games will be determined later.

Source: inquirer.net