23-year-old UNC shooting guard Paxson Wojcik was leaning into this notion that Kylie was interested in him in the digital world -- at least based on a video a reporter took of him after a game last week ... where the interviewer name-dropped the beauty mogul directly.

Check it out ... Paxson gets peppered with questions by this guy post-game, and the line of questioning is pretty direct -- "What do you have to say about rumors that Kylie slid into your DMs???" BTW, there really weren't any rumors until his homeboy floated this online.

As you can see, Paxson says he can't speak on those "rumors" -- but he does say it very tongue-in-cheek-like ... and even comes right back to say his team will be in L.A. this week.

It's true ... UNC is set to play Alabama Thursday for a Sweet 16 matchup, and they're hooping at the Crypto.com Arena -- something Paxson seems real giddy about.

Like the reporter rightly points out ... the KarJenners are in L.A., something Paxson's well aware of ... but it really did come out of nowhere, which is how we now know it's complete BS. Sources with direct knowledge tell us Kylie's never contacted this dude at all, period.

Paxson's manager, TJ Beisner, tells us PW has not spoken with Kylie -- and that this whole thing was made up. We're told Paxson answered his buddy's question off the cuff and that he didn't mean any harm ... and he now realizes he was inappropriate with his joking.

Beisner tells us Paxson's expressed his regret to him, and he's relayed this to Kylie's team. In other words ... it's complete BS -- and it sounds like Paxson feels bad about it.

There were other hints there may have been fire here -- including the fact Paxson recently teamed up with SKIMS -- plus, him dropping her name yet again in an IG Story he posted that included a MadeinTYO lyric ... "Shorty bad as hell, yeah, with them Kylie Jenner lips."