MANILA, Philippines — Coach Tab Baldwin offered no excuses after his Ateneo Blue Eagles fell to a 1-6 start in the UAAP Season 87 men's basketball tournament, the worst start for any Ateneo men's basketball team in the Final Four era.

Incurring his team's sixth loss at the Mall of Asia Arena Saturday at the hands of the NU Bulldogs, 68-78, Baldwin said this batch of Blue Eagles simply need to play better.

"Obviously, our record right now is unprecedented. But, you know, it is what it is. There's no excuses for it," said Baldwin, who led Ateneo to four championships in the past seven seasons.

"We can talk about being inexperienced and young and all of that, but they're not now. You know, they've had a half a season to become seasoned and become more experienced. We've got to play better basketball," the Kiwi-American tactician added.

Baldwin, a renowned international basketball coach, pointed out his team's inconsistencies in multiple departments and said that until the Blue Eagles found some consistency in putting those things togethers, the results will remain the same.

"Tonight we started to hit shots which we haven't done the entire first round and that was great to see, but then our defense was probably the worst game that we've had this round. So, you know, it's a simple formula. You've got to put all the good stuff together with the other good stuff and make the bad stuff a lot less," said Baldwin.

"We're just not putting them together so far this year. And we just have to give every effort to avoiding the inconsistencies that we're a good defensive team one game and then the next, you know, it's not. We're good free throw shooting one game, the next we're not. We hit some threes one game, the next we don't."

As the first round comes to a close and the pressure continues to mount heading to the second round, which the Blue Eagles basically have to sweep for a fighting chance in making the Final Four, Baldwin, 66, said they have to rise to the challenge.

"We both want the pressure but we want to handle the pressure better. And I think that as the season matures, that is the area where we have to mature. We have to handle the pressure of being Blue Eagles in a not great year," said Baldwin.

"And we have to rise to the expectations of ourselves, of our community. And we have to rise to the level of the league and establish that we should be respected for the quality of play that we put on the court. So far we haven't done that."