Once Hurley won a championship it became more of a joke, but before that people complained he was not running a good play on final possession. When a game comes down to one shot it is really luck more than anything else that drives the outcome.
Also whether or not the officials intervene on a call in the final possession can be a big factor. Big East refs have typically hurt UConn more then help them.
Finally having a great scorer who can create their own shot is a huge advantage on a game that comes down to final possession. UConn typically recruits scorers that score in motion. In this OT vs Providence Silas created his own shot for the game sealing basket.
Lastly, pre championship years they were a defense first team and didn’t really have great players to take that final shot.
All that said they still won close games so the narrative that Hurley can’t win a close won was stupid in my opinion and always bothered me when people said it. They did lose more close games than they won, but that was largely due to bad luck and the factors above.