Tyler Ulis says disrespected Kentucky was out to crush West Virginia's spirit

If it seemed like Kentucky was out to destroy West Virginia's confidence, it's because they were.

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Addressing West Virginia freshman guard Daxter Miles Jr.'s pregame guarantee that NCAA basketball's lone remaining unbeaten was "gonna be 36-1" after Thursday's Sweet 16 showdown, Kentucky freshman guard Tyler Ulis admitted in the aftermath of a 78-39 that his Wildcats were out for blood.

"They should have kept their mouth shut and it might not have been like that," Ulis told Kentucky Sports Radio's Matt Jones. “Our whole plan was to crush their spirit — beat 'em by 50 for disrespecting us."

If that was the plan, it worked to perfection, as Kentucky improved to 37-0 by handing the Mountaineers one of the worst losses in Sweet 16 history. But as much fun as it is to imagine Ulis & Co. studying "Bloodsport" instead of game film, Wildcats coach John Calipari denied any spirit-crushing game design.

"That didn't come from me, because that's not the way I coach," he told reporters in his postgame press conference. "I don't want my team playing angry. I don't want them to be mean, nasty, hateful. It's, 'Play with joy and love of the game and love for each other.' That wins every time. The other stuff turns to fear."

Of course, Ulis wasn't the only player in Kentucky's locker room basking in the glee of Miles' guarantee, as fellow Wildcats Devin Booker and Andrew Harrison took to social media to keep crushing WVU's spirit.

As for Miles, who finished scoreless in 19 minutes, he eventually was convinced by a member of the West Virginia coaching staff to emerge from a bathroom stall and address the awaiting media scrum, according to CBS Sports, at which point he channeled Rasheed Wallace and repeated, "Kentucky played hard."

(h/t Larry Brown Sports)