BLACKSBURG, Va. — Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said the Tigers need someone else besides Marcquise Reed, Gabe DeVoe and Elijah Thomas to score if they want to survive without point guard Shelton Mitchell.

Fifteenth-ranked Clemson played Scott Spencer, Mark Donnal and Clyde Trapp off the bench and got zero points from the three in 41 minutes of play combined in Wednesday’s 65-58 loss at Virginia Tech.

“We obviously did not get much out of our bench today,” Brownell said. “We played some guys and they could not make shots. It puts a lot of pressure on your older guys, which should not have been that much.

“But Marcquise was forced to do a lot and some of that, not having Shelton, that is what he does, but we needed more bench play … We had three guys play almost double figure minutes and we scratched. That is just putting to much pressure on your starters.”

Outside of Reed and Thomas, the rest of the team shot 7-for-28 from the field. Reed was 10-of-24 overall and 8-for-20 behind the arc, while Thomas was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor.

Reed finished with a career-high 28 points.

Brownell said Mitchell had a better day on Wednesday back in Clemson and he is hopeful he will be available for the Tigers when they host Georgia Tech Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson.