If you got your hands on a little suitcase MIG welder it'd be quite easy to throw down some little tacks / welds.
Zinc Chills are NOT fun BTW, drinking milk before/during/after can help a little. It's a trick the Easterners used to use back in the ship building days. For just a little welding though keeping your face out of the smoke and good airflow is usually good enough.
I did a side job with metal studs 2 years ago and just used screws, seemed easy and fast enough. We built a 18' high curved wall, so basement walls should be no prob.