UVU campus briefs

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Senior guard Jordan Swarbrick was named the Great West Conference Basketball Player of the Week Thursday by the league office for his efforts in leading the Wolverines to an 80-72 season-opening victory over North Dakota State on Nov. 13.

Swarbrick (El Dorado, Calif. Union Mine HS) came off the bench and scored a career-high 20 points, grabbed nine rebounds (one off his career high), dished out four assists and tied his career-high in steals with three.

In 28 minutes, Swarbrick went 5-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-5 from the 3-point line. He was also 7-of-8 from the foul line, including hitting 4-of-4 in the final 23 seconds to preserve the win over the Bison.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Julie Smith was tabbed as the first Great West Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the 2009-10 season, the league office announced on Tuesday. Smith is leading the team with 14.3 points per game thru four games this season.

Smith took the honor after scoring 38 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in a 71-53 loss at BYU and a 62-56 win over Mesa State. The Preseason GWC Women's Player of the Year hit on 52 percent of her field goals and 88 percent of her foul shots. She is a senior forward from Cardston, Alberta.

The Wolverines are in the midst of a two-game road trip that will wrap up on Friday at Longwood at 5 p.m. MT.

WRESTLING: The team began its 2009-10 dual season by going a perfect 2-0 Thursday night as the Wolverines defeated both Gardner-Webb and UNC Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C.

On the evening the Wolverines handed Gardner-Webb (0-5) a 37-6 loss and came from behind to defeat UNC Greensboro (0-1) on its home mat, 21-17.

"Tonight was a tough matchup against UNC Greensboro," UVU head coach Greg Williams said. "We have five freshmen starters in our lineup so they are finding themselves in situations where their inexperience is exposed. Our younger wrestlers are working hard, learning and really improving out on the mat. Also Justin (Morrill) and Ben's (Kjar) pins against Greensboro were huge for us as they were the difference makers in the matchup."

In the nightcap against UNC Greensboro, UVU found itself trailing 13-12 after dropping its last two matches with only three matches remaining. Next up for the Wolverines was their No. 11 nationally ranked junior Benjamin Kjar at 125-pounds. Kjar wasted no time giving helping his squad regain the lead as he pinned Greensboro's Eric Chandler 2:15 into the match Kjar's win then put the Wolverines on top with an 18-13 advantage.