The magical run is over. The longest winning streak in program history is done.

Boston College ended Syracuse’s streak on Wednesday, and Duke brought the Orange back down out of orbit again on Saturday.

SU head coach Jim Boeheim touched on the struggle during his sassy post-ejection press conference.

“I don’t think we’ll probably play again,” Boeheim quipped after his team’s 66-60 loss to the Blue Devils. “I just think we’ll give up. Jeez, we’ll probably lose again.”

The now two-loss Orange (25-2, 12-2 Atlantic Coast) will try to avoid losing again when it travels to College Park, Md., to face the Terrapins (15-12, 7-7) on Monday at 7 p.m. With a game next Saturday against Virginia, which is now alone atop the conference standings, Syracuse may need to win each of its final four games to be the top seed in the ACC tournament.

“It’s going to be another tough game,” SU forward C.J. Fair said. “Maryland is going to be a tough environment there as well. We’ve got to have the attitude that we can’t lose, no matter what it takes.

“We just can’t lose again.”

Fair was one of the improved players for the Orange in its 66-60 loss to the Blue Devils. He shot 6-of-12 for 12 points, and collected seven rebounds, but was called for a controversial charge on Rodney Hood with 10.4 seconds to play.

Fellow wing Jerami Grant also shined, finishing with a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds.

But the rest of the starters — Tyler Ennis, Trevor Cooney and Rakeem Christmas — managed just 19 points on a combined 6-of-24 shooting.

“We have a lot of poise,” Grant said. “We went 25 straight. Two losses kind of hurts, but at the same time we know that we’ll come back from it now.”

The Terrapins are a quality team, but the Orange may be catching them at the right time. UMD has lost three of its last five, most recently beating a floundering Wake Forest squad 71-60 on Tuesday.

Nick Faust scored a career-high 20 points against the Demon Deacons, shooting 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from deep.

After the game, Faust told reporters that the team was looking forward to hosting the then-undefeated Orange.

“They’re a great team,” Faust said. “We have a lot of time before we play them. We’re looking forward to practicing and getting better.”

Maryland has now watched two teams knock off Syracuse, and possesses the necessary tools to duplicate the successes of Duke and Boston College.

Forward Jake Layman shoots near 40 percent from downtown and could also hurt the Orange if the Terps stick him in the high post. Dez Wells could have a similar effect on the game, as an athletic dual-threat guard that could hurt Syracuse from the perimeter or around the paint.

While they aren’t an elite-level ACC team, the Terps are still capable of beating the Orange.

And for Fair, who grew up in Baltimore and played with Faust at Baltimore City High School, the game has a little extra meaning.

Said Fair: “You want to have a game where you can bounce back and fortunately we can prove ourselves in a couple days.”

Published on February 24, 2014 at 1:18 am

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1