Akir Souare isn’t the kind of player who fills up the box score, but if you’ve watched Syracuse basketball this season, you’ve definitely seen him make an impact. He’s the guy flying in for offensive rebounds, contesting shots at the rim, and doing the dirty work in the paint - all in about eight minutes a night. But until Wednesday’s game against Mercyhurst, there was one stat line that stood out in a way that didn’t quite add up: zero points, zero field goal attempts… across 83 total minutes.
“I feel like it was a curse, man,” Souare said after the game. “Not getting no field goals, not getting no buckets, but by the time that happened, I was like, thank God, finally.”
That “finally” was a long time coming. Heading into the game, Souare was the only player in the country who had logged more than 20 minutes without attempting a single shot.
He’d played 83. Not only was he on the court - he was part of the rotation.
And yet, no shots. No points.
Just hustle, length, and effort.
That changed late in the first half. After getting fouled on an offensive rebound, Souare stepped to the free throw line and knocked down his first points of the season.
The lid was off. But it was in the second half that the real moment came - his first field goal attempt, and his first make.
It was Kiyan Anthony who made the play. Driving from the right corner, Anthony slipped a bounce pass through the defense to Souare under the rim.
Souare gathered it, went up strong, and kissed it off the glass for two. Bucket.
The irony? Anthony had been giving him grief about the drought just the day before.
“We were joking with him yesterday in practice,” Anthony said. “Like, you can’t even get a shot up?”
It’s a fair question. How does a player go 89 minutes over 11 games without putting up a single field goal attempt? And more importantly - why did the coaching staff keep him out there?
Because Souare brings something that doesn’t always show up in the stat sheet. He’s a long, athletic presence off the bench - a frontcourt piece that gives Syracuse some rim protection and energy in a rotation that doesn’t have a ton of size.
The advanced numbers don’t necessarily shine in his favor, but with such a small sample, they don’t tell the whole story. Especially when his minutes are often tied to Kyle, the team’s top defender.
Context matters.
“Kiyan called him the team’s glue guy,” and that’s the role he’s embraced. Head coach Adrian Autry sees it too.
“He’s a guy that’s very active,” Autry said. “He stays around the rim.
The things we talked about for him were being able to get his hands on balls - he gets rebounds and things like that. So him being able to cash those in...
I thought earlier in the year, he had some times where he was around the rim and could have finished.”
That activity is what keeps Souare on the floor. Even if he’s not scoring, he’s disrupting plays, grabbing boards, and bringing a physical presence in the paint. And now that he’s finally broken the seal, maybe there’s more to come.
Naithan George knows there is. He’s played with Souare at three different stops - high school, Georgia Tech, and now Syracuse. He’s seen the full version of Akir Souare, and he knows what he can do.
“I’ve been with him forever and he has changed his game,” George said. “I feel like that’s a reflection of where we were at, but I know Souare as a guy who could score the ball.
When I grew up with him in high school, he was scoring the ball like crazy, dunking on people. But I know what Souare is capable of, and him not having a field goal attempt is wild because he’s a really talented guy.”
Now that the first field goal is in the books, Souare’s got his eyes on the next milestone: an alley-oop from George - something they used to connect on regularly.
“I keep looking for it, I keep asking for it,” Souare said. “Whenever I get my first one, I’m gonna be good with it.”
And while the jokes may fly in practice, there’s no mistaking the respect his teammates have for him. Anthony, who delivered the assist on that first field goal, summed it up best.
“He doesn’t care about scoring,” Anthony said. “He only cares about winning, and you need more players out there like that.”
Souare may not light up the scoreboard, but every team needs a guy like him - someone who does the little things, who plays with energy, and who puts the team first. And now that the scoring drought is over, don’t be surprised if he starts making a few more appearances in the box score.