The 1988 Big East men's basketball tournament took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, from March 10 to March 13, 1988. Its winner received the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 1988 NCAA tournament. It is a single-elimination tournament with four rounds. Pittsburgh had the best regular season conference record and received the #1 seed. Syracuse defeated Villanova in the championship game 85–68, to claim its second Big East tournament championship.